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Short takes

Common sense thwarts criminals

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Ohio State University students, welcome to the big city. Now lock your doors.

The recent abrupt rise in crimes near campus shows that criminals know students are coming back
for the fall semester, bringing their valuables, and they are excited, distracted, naïve, easy
targets. But they don’t have to be.

Last Friday, two incidents were reported a few minutes apart in which two women assaulted two
lone women — “punching people in the head,” as police Cmdr. Chris Bowling put it — taking purses
and cellphones. In a home invasion on W. Oakland Avenue this week, the roommates were tied up and
their bikes, computers and cellphones were stolen.

The off-campus area is only a street or two away from a poorer neighborhood where crime is a
persistent problem. The Division of Police is planning to have extra officers in the area this
weekend, but they can’t be everywhere. This is the 15th largest city in the country and that’s one
of the most-densely populated sections.

Living in fear isn’t necessary, but reasonable precautions should be taken. That includes
locking doors, even when someone is home. Don’t keep valuables in vehicles. Stay alert when out
walking, and
alert includes not being distracted by texting or chatting. Don’t go places alone. Report
suspicious behavior. Help can be summoned by dialing 911 and the police nonemergency number is
614-645-4545.

After decades, neighborhood drought is expected to end

No home in Franklin County in 2013 should be without drinkable water, but residents of the
Leonard Park neighborhood in Mifflin Township have been hauling water, Third-World-style, for
decades, since the construction of I-270 in the 1970s disrupted the aquifer from which their wells
draw.

Thank heavens — and a degree of cooperation between Columbus and Franklin County — for the fact
that “city water” seems at last in the foreseeable future for Leonard Park.

A $278,000 low-interest loan from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency means design work can
go ahead for a project to install 14,700 feet of water line and connect 120 homes. Franklin County
commissioners have agreed to seek loans and grants to carry out the $3 million-plus project.

But the real break came nearly three years ago, when negotiations over annexing the Hollywood
Columbus Casino property from Franklin Township to Columbus led to an agreement that, among other
things, cleared the way for the city to extend sewer and water service to more than 20 pockets of
township territory.

Some of those areas have old, failed septic systems, resulting in pollution of nearby streams.
The unacceptable conditions have persisted for several reasons, chief among them Columbus’ strict
policy limiting water and sewer service to those areas willing to annex to the city and a lack of
funding to do the work.

But Columbus’ willingness now to serve those areas without annexation is a key change. Now, it’s
up to county and township officials to find ways to pay for the work.

Clean tap water is still more than a year away for Leonard Park residents, but it’s in sight.
Other areas of the county with substandard living conditions shouldn’t have to wait any longer than
necessary.